AI adoption in construction marketing

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been steadily rising, but “AI” can mean different things in different industries. For marketing and public relations applications, generative AI is the most relevant category to consider. Generative AI includes programs that create text, audio, images, video or other content, and 65 percent of respondents to an early 2024 McKinsey survey reported that their organizations were regularly using generative AI, often for marketing purposes. This percentage was nearly double what a similar survey had found only 10 months earlier.

Despite this uptick in use, a study summarized by the Institute for Public Relations suggested that attitudes toward AI adoption in the workplace can become increasingly negative over time. Concerns over job security were identified as the major cause for the trend, although the study identified several factors that correlated with more positive attitudes, including “relative advantage” (the advantage that could be obtained from using an innovative technology such as AI) and “compatibility” (the degree to which the technology seems consistent with current practice and addresses current needs).

Findings of these studies, and others, suggest AI adoption will continue to increase, even if it faces some hurdles at the level of individual users. A “watch-out,” however, is that at both the individual and organizational levels, surveys show perception of risks is sharpening. Respondents to the McKinsey surveys became more sensitive, over time, to the concerns of having inaccurate information in AI generated content and of infringing on intellectual property.

AOE sees value in a hybrid approach to developing content using AI. Brainstorming. researching and creating outlines using AI tools can result in time savings. However, to avoid the pitfalls noted by many AI users—namely, the potential for inaccuracy and the risk of IP infringement—we recommend that every content piece your organization publishes still have a substantial amount of human input and development or include a clear disclaimer that the content is an AI summarization.

AOE works with our clients and partners every day to make sure their thought leadership and other marketing and PR assets are authentic, well-considered, and stated in their own voice. Contact us today to get started—or to see how we can put AI to use for you! AOE has chosen to collaborate with the industry-leading AI platform Jasper, and we’re using it to help with market research, idea generation, outlining content and analyzing data. For more on how AOE can leverage this powerful AI program to support your content generation, read the blog, “It’s a revolution! How AOE is leveraging AI.”